Governor Anne Waiguru has reclaimed 250 acres of land in Sagana town. The land was grabbed illegally by a private developer with help from officers in the defunct Kirinyaga County Council.
After a long legal battle, the county government won the appeal in 2021. The title deed was handed over to the administration. This marked the first step toward the Sagana Industrial City.
The industrial city will boost agro-processing and the local economy. It will include an Export Processing Zone, a Special Economic Zone, and a County Aggregation and Industrial Park. The city will also have warehouses, cold storage, and other facilities to help farmers and manufacturers.
Governor Waiguru said the idea started in 2018 under the Mountain Cities blueprint. Many people dismissed it as political talk. Today, the project is becoming a reality.
The city is expected to create 150,000 jobs. About 30,000 will be direct, and 120,000 indirect. Farmers will benefit through processing, packaging, and aggregation of farm produce. This will reduce post-harvest losses and increase earnings.
Sagana is well located near the Nyeri-Nairobi highway and a railway line. The town was an industrial hub in the 1970s and 1980s. It had coffee, leather, fish, and flour processing industries. Oil depots and timber yards were also there. But the decline of railway transport slowed growth.
Governor Waiguru was also commissioning the Sagana affordable housing project. It will have 487 units in three nine-storey blocks—the tallest buildings in the county.
She said the project proves that planning and determination can turn dreams into reality. The Sagana Industrial City marks a new chapter for Kirinyaga. It will bring economic growth, jobs, and a revival of the town as a modern industrial hub.
